Occupational health and safety news and guidance

A former England kick boxer has had to give up the sport after being injured at work, a court was told.

On 13 June, Nottinghamshire engineering company Phil Watson Civil Engineering
Limited was fined for the incident which saw 36-year-old Zak
Davis, of Billinghay, Lincolnshire, buried up to his waist when a trench
collapsed.

Mr Davis was working on a small housing development just off Wragby
Road, Bardney, Lincolnshire when the incident happened on 4 August 2011.

He was laying drain pipes in a trench being dug by an excavator. It
had been raining heavily during the day. While he was in the trench the
digger operator noticed the walls beginning to crack and shouted a
warning but before Mr Davis could escape he was hit by the falling
material, including a large lump of concrete, and was pinned down by his
legs.

He dislocated and fractured his hip socket and shattered his pelvis. He needed 10 hours of surgery and is still off work.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Phil Watson
Civil Engineering Ltd. had failed to assess the ground conditions and
the effect that the rain would have, and failed to install measures to
prevent a trench collapse.

The company, of Victoria Street, Shirebrook, Mansfield,
Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 31(1) of the
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. Lincoln
magistrates today fined the firm £10,000 and ordered it to pay full
costs of £2,141.